Disconnect to Reconnect. Have you ever closed your eyes and listened to everything around you? Or ever been in a place that was pitch dark where you were unable to rely on your eyes? What did you do? You may have felt around for a direction if it was a place you were familiar with, but you also realized that your ears and sense of touch were heightened. Am I right? This is true for most senses, that when you lose one, the others are heightened.

As a child I remember thinking I could become a super hero if I lost one of my senses. My piano teacher as a child was a blind man who after every stroke of the key would make my heart call out for the Divine. It was as though his eyes were blind, but his heart wasn’t. He played with strength and precision. I would sit there for hours listening to him, wondering how he played the classics with such profundity.

Today, unlike most days I sat with one of my teachers, disconnected from everything and everyone. We didn’t study anything. I just sat in his apartment. After some time, I made some adhkar, a bit later I memorized and reviewed some Quran. A little later I reviewed Fiqh, before long I had accomplished more in those few hours than in 2-3 days. It was as though my senses were heightened, as though my spirit was lifted. Outside distractions were gone. No family, no friends, no internet, no nothing. I just sat cut off from everything yet connected to the Divine.

It’s not to say that the world is a horrible place, and that the internet is a horrible innovation. I don’t believe that. It has its good and it can be used for good; but disconnecting from everything is needed regularly. It doesn’t need to be long-term, just 30 minutes, or an hour a day where you disconnect and realign with the Divine will have immense benefits. This is part of the benefit of our prayers. To cut everything off and to say, “God is the Greatest” while leaving everything behind us.

Disconnecting so that we can reconnect to what matters most.

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